Pharmaceutical / Biotechnology

Pharmaceutical / Biotechnology

The pharma/biotech sector is still regarded as the United Kingdom’s largest manufacturing export sector, estimated at around £50bn per annum. The UK prides itself on having a rich R&D base in this sector with around 30,000 people directly employed in R&D roles. Industrial biotechnology and bioenergy activities rely heavily on firms investing to discover innovative and productivity-enhancing technologies and processes.

It is widely acknowledged that manufacturing approaches in the pharma/biotech industry still have considerable room for improvement, following long-established practices that are not suited to the needs of the 21st century. However, there is a strong appetite across the industry to tackle this, and there are now real opportunities for radical change and improvement.

How can the MTC help?

There is a clear need to provide new, low-cost routes to market including manufacture for innovative therapies so that value can be retained in the UK. Improvements in analytics would enable products to reach the market more quickly through greater process knowledge, and therefore at lower cost and with reduced waste.

There is also a need for novel methods regarding how drugs are given to patients, combined with ‘smart’ technologies that could integrate formulation, packaging and delivery to ensure prescribed treatments are followed more closely – improving results and reducing waste. Reconfiguring the supply chain could support radically new business models based on patient needs and wellbeing.

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The MTC engineers have been working alongside our team. We’ve all been impressed by their modest attitudes and exceptional knowledge. As a result, we’ll
be manufacturing components that couldn’t previously be made.